Social hierarchy and the choice of metal recycling at Anyang, the last capital of Bronze Age Shang China

Abstract

Anyang, the last capital of the Chinese Shang dynasty, became one of the largest metal consumers in Eurasia during the second millennium BCE. However, it remains unclear how Anyang people managed to sustain such a large supply of metal. By considering the chemical analysis of bronze objects within archaeological contexts, this paper shows that the casting and circulation of metal at Anyang was effectively governed by social hierarchy. Objects belonging to the high elites such as Fuhao, particularly the bronze ritual vessels, were made by carefully controlled alloying practice (primary) using very pure copper, whereas the lower elites only had access to bronzes made by secondary alloying practice and copper with more impurities. Such contrasts allow scholars to identify those objects which are less likely to have been made by mixing and recycling, which has very important implications for the chemical and isotopic determination of provenance for future studies.

Brass products in the coronet excavated from an M2-numbered Sui-Tang-dynasty tomb situated in Kun Lun Company in Xi'an, Shaanxi

“…The strict hierarchical system of feudal society gave materials with specific hierarchical attributes [37]. In particular, the coronet under consideration was found to be made of two different materials.…”

Spatial investigation of technological choice and recycling in copper‐base metallurgy of the South Caucasus

“…The compositional patterns also contribute to a broader discussion of metal recycling, a topic of considerable recent interest in archaeometallurgy and economic archaeology (Cuénod et al 2015;Duckworth and Wilson 2020;Liu et al 2020). It is increasingly clear that recycling is not a monolithic phenomenon, and there is considerable variability in practices of reuse.…”

“…2015; Duckworth and Wilson 2020; Liu et al . 2020). It is increasingly clear that recycling is not a monolithic phenomenon, and there is considerable variability in practices of reuse.…”

Two Sides of the Same Coin: A Combination of Archaeometallurgy and Environmental Archaeology to Re-Examine the Hypothesis of Yunnan as the Source of Highly Radiogenic Lead in Early Dynastic China

“…Further evidence comes from Anyang. In the top-elite tomb M1046 (dated to Anyang Phase IV), the nine ritual vessels show a remarkably high percentage of lead, but with very narrow variation (between 30 and 35% Pb), suggesting a wellcontrolled alloying practice for lead (Zhao et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2020b).…”